BSU students deal with Christmas fever differently

December is a month of
crowded stores

By
Jake Kelly and Zuzka Tomcikova

The smell of fresh trees, the little sparkling lights, and the decorations all around the house bring us a very calm and happy atmosphere. The smell of Christmas cookies, delicious food and the sound of laughter and cheerful music makes Christmas a favorite amongst holidays. Family is most important during this holiday. Presents have become a crucial part in the tradition of christmas and in light of that family members are always searching for the best gifts to give their loved ones.

Buying gifts is a hassle and as December rolls around, the stores change into  jungles. People are walking around malls, in a hurry and with a determined look on their face. The sound of a cash register comes from every store, the  christmas sale signs are put up almost everywhere, Christmas music is playing in the background.

The holiday season is coming around and everybody wants to get the best presents for their family and friends. They don’t want to miss any great gift ideas that the stores provide. Cost and originality is key in the purchasing decision of consumers. In Bemidji the store selection is very limited; the Paul Bunyan mall has a lot of shoppers rushing through. Brittany DeBoer, a worker at J. C. Penney hustles through the store, folding and organizing items in the store. “It gets really busy before Christmas,” DeBoer says. “But I don’t mind; the time passes by much faster at work, and the people are in a good mood when they find something they like, and that puts me in a good mood also.”

Some people think ahead and start the shopping earlier so they don’t feel rushed once it comes close to the holidays, because the shopping rush before Christmas might be stressful. Erika Wheelhouse, a BSU sophomore tries to handle the stress level by starting her Christmas list in November. “I start a list in mid-November, and I work through it as the days roll,” said Wheelhouse. “I try to get some presents early, so I don’t feel that pressured when there is only a week left till Christmas and the stores are full of people.”

There are many ways to brainstorm for Christmas gifts and many retail stores make sure that their deals are stuck in the shoppers head. Advertising signs are everywhere, and the televsion and radios are full of Christmas ads. The stores promote everything you can imagine, from electronics, clothing, jewelry, up to house hold appliances. “We are trying to give good deals to bring shoppers into our store,” said DeBoer. “Even if they come looking for a particular thing, most people purchase more and that’s what we like to see.”

The Internet has made a huge impact on the way shopping is done. It is an easy and comfortable way to purchase gifts with the luxury of being at home. Squeezing through other people to get the gifts you are looking for in the store is out of the picture. All Internet shopping requires is a credit card, and a computer connected to the Internet. Jeff Marin is one of the people who prefer to shop online. “I just turn the computer on and order stuff I want,” said Marin. “Most of the time it’s even cheaper than going to the store, and everything I order comes to me.”

Although shopping online is comfortable and in many cases more affordable, most people still prefer to get their gifts in the stores.  “Christmas shopping has a different atmosphere, the snow is on the ground, the lights are twinkling, and it just feels like you’re in a fairytale,” said BSU junior Alana McElhinney. Some people ignore the stress factor and simply enjoy the fact that they are trying to purchase something that will make their friends and family happy. Walking around stores is also a way to brainstorm. “Sometimes I just go shopping without a clue,” said McElhinney. “I find stuff just walking around, and that makes it more fun.”

No matter if people look for gifts online or in the store, the main idea behind the gifts is to make the loved ones happy with the presents. The smile on the face of the loved ones is always brought by the look under the Christmas tree. Especially children have a sparkle in their eyes running down the stairs Christmas day, seeing that Santa has brought gifts. Seeing the joy of children ripping the wrapping paper, and hearing the excitement makes up for all the hours spend searching for the gift. “Even though I hate Christmas shopping, seeing my little cousins open the presents makes up for it immediately,” said BSU junior, Jeffrey Johnson.

Story #8 (Final Story)

The Store where everything really is FREE

BSU Students donate to and shop at the ‘Free Store’

By Rhea Wawrzyniak

Word Count: 914  



By Rhea Wawrzyniak

The entrance to the “Free Store” is located
 in the back left corner of the Sustainability
 Office and Excellence in Leadership Center
 where the “Free Store” and “Suit Yourself”
share a room.



Students need to pay for more than the classes they take. There are a lot of other expenses when it comes to getting a college education, including books, folders, notebooks, writing utensils, computer, clothing, and a place to stay just to name a few.  

There is a resource on campus where students can get some of these things for free. The “Free Store” is located in the back left corner of the Sustainability Office and Excellence in Leadership Center, where they share space with “Suit Yourself”.

The hand written sign above the wooden door entrance reads “Free Store” in red and “Suit Yourself” in green. The room takes the form of an “L”. The “Free Store” comes first and consists of counters and cabinets filled with supplies for school. Exploring more into the room is racks of clothing for “Suit Yourself”.     



By Rhea Wawrzyniak

Before leaving the “Free Store” students
write the date and the item they took.



At “Suit Yourself” students, men or women can take business suits for free. When “Suit Yourself” was getting started they had to build their own coat racks using wires, belts and wood blocks, and some are still there today.

The “Free Store” opened last February after BSU senior Crystal Rayamajhi was inspired by an article about a California student who collected items around campus and brought them to a warehouse where students could shop for free.

Rayamajhi’s idea came to life at BSU with the help of Mary Tosch, associate director of Hobson Memorial Union. “People were supportive,” said Rayamajhi, “It was not that hard to get going.”

After cleaning out the space, and putting cabinets in, BSU had a functional “Free Store”. In the wooden cabinets are glasses, cooking items, Tupperware, vases, kitchen utensils, holiday decorations, electronics, writing utensils, office supplies, and a few miscellaneous drawers. Across the back of the light colored counter are folders and blue three-ring binders. To the left of the entrance a wooden bookshelf holds donated books.      



By Rhea Wawrzyniak

Many people donate used folders
and binders to the “Free Store”.



One of the craziest things brought in was a duffle bag filled with pencils that had furry heads with glued on eyes. Rayamajhi was not sure who would want these, but a week later half of them were gone. “You just never know what someone may find useful,” said Rayamajhi.  



By Rhea Wawrzyniak

People donate used books to the “Free Store”.



Rayamajhi said that most students want to bring in clothing. The store has taken some in the past, but they encourage students to bring clothes to goodwill, they just don’t have room. If people want to donate worn clothes they can cut them into rags first and the store will use them that way. “If you would not feel good about giving something to your friend, don’t donate it,” said Rayamajhi.

Rayamajhi wishes that more students would donate microwaves and small refrigerators because those items are sometimes hard to transport and very useful in dorms.



By Rhea Wawrzyniak

Dishware small and large is
donated to the “Free Store”.



The notebooks are items that sell fast at the beginning of the year. Rayamajhi would like to see more notebooks, calculators, pens, and pencils donated. “Some people have a hard time paying for school,” said Rayamajhi. “If we can offer some of these items, that can shave off a little of the expenses.”



“Books are expensive,” said Brett Jasperse, BSU sophomore. “It is nice to be able to stop by and get free notebooks or folders for class.”  

There is no record of things that have been donated, but when students take items they write the date and what they took on a sheet of notebook paper. So far, there have been 2,247 items given away.



By Rhea Wawrzyniak

A popular donated item, writing utensils, fill a drawer in the “Free Store”. 



There is always a time to donate. Students can drop off items anytime in the sustainability office, across from the BSU bookstore, or just leave them by the door and they will get picked up in the morning by the sustainability staff who maintains the “Free Store”. The “Free Store” will also put out “Donate Don’t Dumpster” bin in the dorms, which are designed to reduce waste during move-out. Also, jute bags are given away to students who donate while the supplies last.  



By Rhea Wawrzyniak

“Suit Yourself” clothes, where you can suit
yourself for free to get to kick off their careers.  



Donating is not just for the students, but for faculty, staff and administrations at BSU. “We really appreciate everyone’s efforts to donate to the ‘Free Store’,” said Rayamajhi. “It is a cool way to see the BSU community come together.” 



Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. is when the “Free Store” was open this semester, and next semesters hours will change as Rayamajhi’s schedule changes.



Rayamajhi’s favorite thing about the “Free Store” is that is reduces waste and helps students. She believes that the store is successful, “We have had a lot of people come through the store, and we have given away a lot of items.”





word count: 1044

December 11, 2010
Final Story

The Budget Crisis Appears Again

President Hanson Addresses the Students

By Natalie Reque

President Hanson relaxign before the meeting.

       President Hanson was elected the new president of Bemidji State University for a lot of reasons, but the main one was because of his expertise in cutting back on schools budgets. Bemidji State started seeing these changes almost immediately following his inauguration. However, it was not until around October that students started to really panic. There were rumors that some departments and classes were being cut out of the school and this would lead to some majors not being offered. This rumor was the start of an epidemic of many rumors to come.
      However, President Hanson set up a meeting on Thursday night at six o'clock located in Haag Saur 100 to squash these rumors and set the record straight. Michael Meehlhause, student co-president for the student senate began the meeting with some facts. "The state of Minnesota is now facing a 6.2 billion dollar deficit, and there has been many cuts all around the state. We all must know that Bemidji State University is not immune to these cuts," said Meehlhause. "We are looking at somewhere around a five million dollar cut to the campus, and there are going to be changes."


Hagg room 100 filled up as more concerned students came in.

       The meeting dove into them talking about how there are going to be changes for the better of the school but without going into details. President Hanson refused any questions that were asking which departments and programs exactly were going to feel these cuts. "Maybe this is a pipedream on my part, but I think we will come out of this stronger. We won't be as big or as broad, but we will be stronger in some very important ways," Hanson said in a very reassuring voice. He mentioned that BSU will still have attractive programs and strong faculty, but that there will be some changes.
       The questions started coming, and one of the first dealt with how many staff members of the school took early retirement. According to the president, eight staff took early retirement at BSU and two at Northwest Technical College. Ten total staff took the board-incentive retirement program. These positions will not be replaced.
       One student asked if he could give a broad category of areas where the percentages of cuts are going to be. "I am going to have to speak very broadly, but the most important fact to know is that we are not going to take everything out of construction- out of faculty and classes. I think you are going to see an impact across all categories. I wish I could tell you it's going to be an even 20/20/20 but that information is not available yet." When he sat with the faculty last week, one of them had made a very important fact saying that this is not going to be just a instuctural cut but a recalibration of this school.
       The most talked about subject was how students are going to be able to finish their degrees if already declared. When these new changes were first being talked about, students were thinking that because of all these cuts, that there majors were not going to be offered or allowed to finish. However, according to Hanson, these changes are not going to be instant. This new plan for changes will be starting over the next two years. "If there was a program that was sited for cutting, every student that has declared that for a major who is a junior and above of this year will finish in that major. Now if you are an incoming freshman, and wanted to declare a major that has been marked to be cut, then we are probably not going to do that."


There will be another meeting held in January.

          The most touchy situation is going to be cutting faculty and deciding who stays and who goes. One lady in the crowd raised her hand to ask if this process is going to involve how students evaluate the teachers or is it going to be based on seniority. "If we were to cut individual faculty from departments but not the program, first we would have to follow the rules that come with cutting faculty from schools. There is a huge set of state rules that needs to be followed, and that contract needs to be honored." This contract can be accessed from the MNSCU site under IFO. Next, there is going to be some formal feedback that the dean and President will be looking at to see who should stay or not.
             If it were up the Hanson, throughout all these changes, there would be no rise in student tuition. But that would be too good to be true. If tuition was not touched, there would be a half a million dollars to come up with to cover the deficit, and right now with the school already behind five million, that would be impossible. "However, we will not be feeing the students to death," the president declared. "Ladies and gentlemen, you need to realize that that these new changes are going to be for the better of the school and you."
           As the meeting wrapped down, there was a feeling of reassurance. One student was really relieved. "Coming to this meeting really made things clear," said Chloe Evans, a senior. "Being that I am in the history department, and before this meeting there were rumors that it was being dropped and I could not finish my major, etc. This was a big relief to come and hear."
          "One thing I do not particular like is the fact that I will have a smaller catalog to choose from being that I have not declared a major," said freshman Alonzo Melton. " All these changes still make me feel like maybe I want to move to a different college that will for sure be offering a lot more."  This meeting that was held last Thursday was only a preliminary one. The school hopes to have everything ready to present to the students and faculty by the beginning of this next semester. President Hanson said that the deadline to have the whole recon structured plans in place by March 1.

Just some of the students that came to meeting.

　

Oak Hall provides a study place for students

Also provide PAAs

Luke Landgraf

Word count:537

story 3

In the basement of Oak Hall Dorm on the BSU campus, the academic resource center (ARC) is a place where students can go for help with their homework. The people who operate the ARC are the Peer Academic Assistance (PAA).  There are two PAAs that live on each floor of oak hall.  They are there to help students whenever needed.

“Not very many people know about the ARC that don’t live in oak hall,” Said Jacob Caron who is a PAA that lives on 3B of oak hall.  “Other people only think that the ARC is only for residences that live in oak,” said Jacob “this is a misunderstanding, it’s for anyone on campus.  The only people who really use the ARC are the residences that live in the dorm.”

The ARC is open Monday 7-9 pm Tuesday –Sunday 7-11 but closed on Saturday.  There are computers in the ARC that allow the PAAs to help edit papers and other things.  Other than getting help with your homework in the ARC, they can help improve your study habits and show little tricks to taking tests.

Another thing that PAAs provide is a peer evaluation sheet. That exercise they do with the residence on the floor is to help them set goals, they set goals and help the residences achieve them.  It’s also them asking what kind of class that students have so when it comes to finals week that they can set up a study group with you and anyone else on the floor or even the building. 

The first year that the ARC opened was in 1996 and that was located in Maple Hall. Maple Hall is located across the court yard form Oak.  The ARC was re-opened in 2008 in oak hall, when the first year residential experience (FYRE) moved to Oak. 

The FYRE program is an option program located in Oak that really works with the freshman that are located in Oak.  The FYRE program is a program that puts all first year students together to help them all adapt to their first year hear at BSU.  They have a special roommate process that helps put students together with capable people. The program really works with the ARC to help the freshman to do well in their school work. “We really try to help the freshman in the FYRE program to get good grade to start off their college career,” says Jacob Caron “we try to show them how to study effectively so that they know how to.”

“I have used the ARC multiple times since I have been here,” said Andy Tikkanen a freshman who lives in Oak. “I have gone down there for a couple subjects; they really help you out a lot. They have helped me with studying and test taking.”

Picture 1

The three students all came in at different times but at the ARC they formed a study group and the PAAs just kind of helped them when needed.

Picture 2

The PAAs from left to right are Natasha Kleinsasser and Jacob Caron they are located on 3-B of Oak Hall.